Everyone you know has at one time or another has struggled financially. For some, the struggles come when they are young. For others, the difficulties arrive when they are older. Regardless of the circumstances of the struggle, it should never be accompanied by harassment by a bill collector.
Some debt collectors believe that anything they do or say is fair game in their pursuit of a payment. That belief is simply wrong, as you’ll see as we answer the question: What is debt collector harassment?
The federal government’s Consumer Financial Protect Bureau says that harassment can take many forms, but can include such activities as repeated phone calls designed to annoy whoever who answers the phone; use of obscenities or profanities when discussing you or your debt; and making threats of violence or impending harm (example: issuing a threat to have you arrested).
These kinds of abusive harassment are prohibited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), but some unscrupulous Philadelphia bill collectors engage in them anyway. What some of the harassers might not know is that you can file a lawsuit against the collector for FDCPA violations.
You can not only get the bill collector to change their ways, but you can also make them pay your lawyer’s fees and even, in some circumstances, pay you damages.
If you are being harassed, the bureau urges you to keep a record of all exchanges with the collector on the phone or by mail, as well as a record of what was said (hang on to the mailed documents).
You can also speak with an attorney with a track record of protecting consumers and holding abusive collectors accountable. The bottom line is that you can fight back, and with the proper legal assistance, take the fight to them.
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